Salty/Behind the Scenes
Background Information Television Series Salty is a fictional standard gauge diesel locomotive created by Robin Kingsland. In 2002, Salty made his debut in the sixth series of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends in the episode, Salty's Secret. When the show transitioned into full CGI in 2009, Salty was absent for a year and later returned in the 2010 special, Misty Island Rescue Since his return in 2010, Salty has been voiced by Keith Wickham in both the British English and American English dubs of the series. Salty is based on the British Rail Class 07. Behind the Scenes Gauge 1 model Salty's model was built as a British Railways Class 07. It was built to approximately 1/32 scale and designed to run on gauge 1 track. The model was made out of brass. Twelve different facial expressions were sculpted for Salty, but only ten were used on-screen. The faces were first sculpted in clay, and from that resin casts were made using a silicone mold. Two of Salty's faces were duplicated in case the crew needed a face to look dirty and clean on the same day of shooting. One of Salty’s faces is now owned by Twitter user ThomasTankMerch. The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. The up/down servo was attached to the body. The left/right servo had a rod attached to the arm, which connected to a bracket. The eye balls were coupled to the bracket, and locked in by the face-plate, so whenever the servos were powered, the eye balls would move however the crew member desired. File:SaltySeason6Model.jpg File:Saltypromo.jpg File:SaltyFront.jpeg|Salty's model (2004) File:Salty'sFaces.png|Salty's complete face mask set during production of the sixth series (2002) In the episodes, Salty's Secret and Salty's Stormy Tale, Salty was seen with a lamp. This was powered by a hidden battery pack. File:Salty'sSecret41.png File:Salty'sStormyTale53.png The twelfth series marked the beginning of the show's transition into CGI and the characters' faces were animated through CGI with the aid of motion capture animation. The physical models' molded faces were replaced by white targets with triangles to fix a computer-animated face in post-production File:HenryGetsItWrong55.png File:HenryGetsItWrong56.png File:HenryGetsItWrong67.png Salty's model used to be on display in Canada at Nitrogen Studios. File:Display Case (9).png Close-up model Close-up shots of Salty's cab were required for scenes in where he had to interact with close-up scale figures. The model was built by model maker, Chris Lloyd. The model was not complete and only portions of the cab were built. Salty's close-up model only appeared in the ninth series episode, Keeping Up with James. File:KeepingUpwithJames77.png File:KeepingUpwithJames102.png CGI model In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. Salty was recreated from scratch in CGI by Nitrogen Studios. His model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.2 Photographs of Salty's Gauge 1 model were used for referencing. According to Greg Tiernan, every detail of the original television series models for each character is carefully reproduced in the CGI model. The models are subjected to many rounds of review before they are submitted to HiT Entertainment for final input and approval.2 Satly has had modifications throughout the CGI series. These include: * Misty Island Rescue: ** His cap brim became shorter. ** He gained a permanent tail-lamp. ** His buffers became less rusty and weathered. ** His face became larger. * Day of the Diesels: ** His horn sound changed to Derek's at regular pitch. * Tale of the Brave: ** He gained a permanent lamp. * Series 19: ** His cap brim became longer again. File:SaltyCGI.png File:MainSaltyCGI.png A green version of Salty was made for a brief scene in the Series 16 episode, Salty's Surprise. File:Salty'sSurprise27.png Voice Actors * Keith Wickham (UK/US; Misty Island Rescue onwards) * Walter Wigand (Germany) * Carlos Goldberg (Germany; Audio Book 9 only) * Erik Schäffler (Germany; Audio Book 14 only) * Christian Greger Strøm (Norway; Misty Island Rescue - seventeenth series, excluding Day of the Diesels) * Simen Sand (Norway; Day of the Diesels and Tale of the Brave) * Michel Lasorne (France and French speaking Canada; eighth - twelfth series) * Bernard Demory (France and French speaking Canada; Misty Island Rescue onwards) * Naoki Tatsuta (Japan; sixth - eighth series) * Ryuzou Ishino (Japan; ninth series onwards) * Jarosław Domin (Poland; Misty Island Rescue only) * Zbigniew Konopka (Poland; fourteenth series onwards) * Jorge Santos (Latin America; Misty Island Rescue onwards) * Danny Houtkooper (The Netherlands; Misty Island Rescue only) * Paul Disbergen (The Netherlands; fourteenth series onwards) * Gadi Levy (Israel, fifteenth series onwards, excluding Tale of the Brave and Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure) * Dor Srugo (Israel; Tale of the Brave and Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure) * Francisco Bretas (Brazil) * Jorge Teixeira (Spain) * Gaetano Lizzio (Italy) * Denis Bespaliy (Russia; seventeenth series onwards) * Pasi Ruohonen (Finland; Misty Island Rescue onwards) Category:Images of Salty Category:Behind the Scenes Category:Images from behind the scenes